Governors’ review 
of services – Television 

Overview 

BBC Television is facing sharply increased competition as 
the number of digital channels grows rapidly.Audiences to 
BBC One and BBC Two have fallen and the rising numbers 
watching the digital channels BBC Three and BBC Four have 
not yet made up the losses.Younger viewers have been lost 
in disproportionately large numbers – when they switch 
from analogue to digital they show an increased tendency 
also to switch away from television.We are reassured by 
the Director-General’s clear focus on winning back younger 
audiences as a priority for the coming period. 

Creatively speaking, BBC One has had an outstanding year. 
BBC Two is continuing to refine its schedule in order to 
increase its appeal and reach while staying true to its remit. 
BBC Three’s audience is continuing to grow strongly – 
the challenge is to broaden reach by appealing to young 
audiences. BBC Four has had a very good year and its 
audiences rate it very highly indeed. In children’s television, 
The CBBC Channel is in strong creative health and has 
continued to increase its audience. CBeebies recorded a 
reduction in reach, a reflection of both the pressing need 
for creative renewal of the channel and of the increasing 
competition for its audience. 

BBC Television now draws its material from a wide range 
of sources inside and outside the BBC. BBC Cymru Wales 
has made a particularly strong contribution to the BBC’s 
drama output this year. 

24 BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 

20 

million


people watched at least 15 minutes of 
Planet Earth (BBC One, March–April 2006) 


Remit 
BBC One aims to be the UK’s most 
valued television channel, with the 
broadest range of quality programmes of 
any UK mainstream network.The channel 
is committed to widening the appeal of all 
genres by making a range of subjects 
accessible to a broad audience. BBC One 
is committed to covering national and 
international sports events and issues, 
showcasing landmark programmes and 
exploring new ways of presenting 
specialist subjects. 

The continuing modernisation of BBC One, 
the Corporation’s flagship television service, 
remains a key priority for the BBC. During 
the year under review the channel has had 
some outstanding creative successes. 
However, these have not prevented a 
further erosion of overall audience reach. 
In all homes, BBC One’s average 15-minute 
weekly reach to viewers aged 4+ fell 
by 2.2 percentage points, or nearly one 
million people. Average reach in 2005/2006 
was 79.7% or 44.5 million people 
(81.9%/45.4 million in 2004/2005)1. 

These figures do need to be seen in 
context. In an increasingly competitive 
environment BBC One continues to reach 
more viewers than any other television 
channel in both analogue and multichannel 
homes. In multichannel homes, where the 
choice of viewing is by definition far wider, 
BBC One is still watched by more than 
three out of four viewers.The rapid spread 
of digital, and the inevitable audience 
fragmentation that accompanies it, means 
that some degree of erosion of reach may 
be inevitable over time, and the growth in 


Bleak House 

Showing high quality classic drama: cast-members 
from Bleak House – BBC One made a big 
impact by running this Dickens serialisation as 
a soap, an approach in tune with the original 
publication of the novel 

reach of the BBC’s own digital channels 
is going some way to replace (though 
not yet wholly) BBC One’s lost viewers. 
Nevertheless, given the size of the 
channel’s budget and its importance 
in building licence fee payers’ overall 
satisfaction with the BBC, there is no 
room for complacency.There is a particular 
problem with younger viewers who show 
an increased tendency to move away 
from television when they switch from 
analogue to digital.We note management’s 
commitment in the Statements of 
Programme Policy to tackle declining 
reach with popular drama and family 
entertainment that brings in a younger 
audience.This will mean continuing to 
take creative risks, and maintaining strong 
resolve when they do not succeed. 
For example, BBC One was ultimately 
unsuccessful in its attempt to establish 
Davina McCall in an unfamiliar setting, 
but the attempt was worth making. 

The creative successes have come from 
a broad range of genres including drama, 
entertainment and factual. In drama, three 
titles – all very different in kind – stand out: 
Bleak House, Doctor Who and Life on Mars. 
They have helped BBC One maintain its 
clear lead among all UK channels as the 
“channel best for drama” in the BBC’s 
audience research. 

Bleak House had everything that audiences 
expect from a BBC classic costume drama: 
fine acting (and imaginative casting), strong 
writing, intelligent direction and the highest 
production values.What made it different 
was the decision to run it as a soap, with 
half-hour episodes stripped across the 
week and an omnibus edition at weekends. 
This was an inspired idea that went with 
the grain of the original publication of 
Dickens’ novel in instalments, each one 
ending with a cliffhanger, and it helped to 
draw in large and appreciative audiences. 


Strictly Come Dancing 

Making strong family entertainment: cricketer 
Darren Gough, winner of the 2005 Strictly Come 
Dancing, with partner Lilia Kopylova.The series 
format has won international success as a British 
television export 

Programmes such as this define the notion 
of quality on the BBC. 

Doctor Who has continued to delight 
early evening family audiences on Saturdays 

– a reinvention of real wit and flair. 
The potentially problematic departure 
of Christopher Eccleston from the title role 
was seized as an opportunity and David 
Tennant was in place in time to provide 
a successful Christmas special before starting 
a new series in 2006/2007. Dr Who’s 
television output is extended by a rich 
website and there have been imaginative 
experiments with interactive elements – 
the Christmas special was supported by 
a specially written interactive adventure 
accessed via the red button.The audience 
for this approached half a million. In our 
consultations with viewers and listeners, 
they often cite programmes such as 
Dr Who as good BBC family entertainment. 
Strictly Come Dancing, which had another 
successful series, is another programme 
that draws similar unprompted praise 
from audiences. 
Life on Mars also used the idea of time 
travel – this time to reinvent one of the 
staple television genres, the detective series. 
It brilliantly played 21st-century sensibilities 
against 1970s realities (including 1970s 
fashions) through the plot device 
of sending a modern-day detective back 
in time. Its grip on the public consciousness 
was evidenced by the number of 
newspaper opinion pieces that used 
the series title as a jumping-off point 
for nostalgic articles comparing past 
and present ways of doing things. 

One of the great strengths of BBC One is its 
range – not just drama and entertainment, 
but religion, factual, documentary, news and 
current affairs, children’s, sport and more – 
and the fact that it can demonstrate quality 
right across the range, not just in a handful 

BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 25 

Governors’ review 
of services – Television 

of genres. Memorable factual output 
included Planet Earth, narrated by David 
Attenborough, which exploited new 
technologies in film-making to bring rarely 
seen facets of nature into astonishing close-
up. Cameraman Mark Smith’s sequence of 
a snow leopard hunting a mountain goat 
high in the Himalayas – the culmination 
of a year’s quest – was an extraordinary 
achievement. David Attenborough’s great 
gifts as an ambassador for and interpreter 
of the natural world were also on display 
in his BBC One series on the world of 
insects, Life in the Undergrowth. 

There were a number of major set-piece 
events during the year.The 60th 
anniversaries of VE Day and VJ Day were 
well marked with a mixture of outside 
broadcasts of the major public events and 
output exploring the historical context. 
The ability of the BBC to mount big 
outside broadcasts at short notice and 
cope with complex logistical problems was 
demonstrated over 48 hours in April with 
exemplary coverage of the funeral of Pope 
John Paul II in Rome, followed the next day 
by equally memorable coverage of the 
wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla 
Parker Bowles in Windsor. Later in the year, 
Live8, the Hyde Park concert highlighting 
poverty in Africa in the week of the G8 
summit, was organised at extremely short 
notice and the BBC’s coverage was all the 
more notable for that. 

Africa was also the theme of the BBC’s 
Africa Lives season.This celebration and 
exploration of African life and culture 
spread across all BBC channels and 
platforms but was led by BBC One. It 
included output from many different 
genres, including The Girl in the Café,a 
romantic comedy written by Richard 
Curtis; Geldof in Africa, a personal journey 
by Bob Geldof, and a story line in Holby 
City that sent two characters to Ghana. 


Live8 

Showcasing big events: the Live8 concert in Hyde 
Park, mounted at short notice, was a big – but not 
insurmountable – test for the BBC 

Although the output was of variable 
quality, overall this was a public service 
enterprise of admirable ambition, and of 
a scale and scope that only the BBC could 
have delivered. By chance, Live8 coincided 
with the Africa season and raised some 
impartiality issues as a result – our report 
on page 18 shows how they were managed. 

Notable popular arts coverage included 
A Picture of Britain, a celebration of the 
British landscape as seen through the eyes 
of artists, writers and composers.This series, 
a collaboration with Tate Britain, was 
presented by David Dimbleby, who 
demonstrated that his distinctive approach 
works well on material far removed from 
his usual fare of politics and current affairs. 
He brought a fresh audience to arts 
programming on BBC One. Just as 
memorable, The Queen, by Rolf brought 
BBC cameras into Buckingham Palace 
to observe Rolf Harris painting an 80th 
birthday portrait of the Queen – one 
of the more remarkable combinations 
of access, cast and occasion to feature 
anywhere on British television during 
the year. 

Little Britain returned to BBC One for 
another successful series. However, 
although the channel has maintained its 
position among all its UK competitors 
as the “channel best for comedy” in BBC 
audience research, there is a pressing need 
to deliver other new comedies that work 
for mainstream audiences and meet 
audience expectations from BBC One in 
this key programme genre.The Director-
General has made BBC One comedy a 
high priority for additional investment and 
a number of new pilots are in the pipeline. 

EastEnders continues to be an important 
part of the BBC One schedule and an 
important driver of perceptions of the 
channel as a whole. Last year we noted 

Planet Earth 
Bringing natural history into sharp focus: David 
Attenborough’s latest series, Planet Earth, brought 
a close-up view of nature, including unique pictures 
of a Himalayan snow leopard, rarely seen and never 
before pictured like this 
some question marks over its performance. 
This year it seems to have stabilised. 
This was reflected in the steadying of 
scores for BBC One when audiences 
were asked which was the best channel for 
soaps – these scores had declined sharply 
in 2004/2005 – and by the awards won, 
including a Bafta. However, ITV maintains 
a very large lead in this area, reflecting 
in part its much larger output of soaps. 
Viewers expressed strong and unprompted 
appreciation of a special EastEnders 
episode marking Armistice Day. 

In a relatively quiet year for sport on 
BBC One, coverage of the Six Nations 
Rugby and the Commonwealth Games 
demonstrated once again that major 
sporting events remain hugely popular. 

The issue of repeats is one that audiences 
often raise in our consultations and we 
are encouraged by BBC One’s continuing 
progress in reducing repeats in peak time. 
For more on this, see our report on 
pages 15 to 16. 

1The population aged 4+ rose by 400,000 between 
2004/2005 and 2005/2006 

26 BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 

Springwatch 

Tracking the changing seasons: Bill Oddie and 
Kate Humble involved the audience in recording 
the coming of spring – many thousands helped 
build a detailed picture of the season unfolding 
across the UK 


Remit 
BBC Two sets out to be a mixed-genre 
channel combining serious factual and 
specialist subjects with inventive comedy 
and distinctive drama to bring challenging, 
intelligent television to a wide audience. 

In 2003 we approved a new strategy 
for BBC Two which aimed to underline 
its distinctive public service role as a 
channel offering a more challenging mix 
of output than BBC One and, in particular, 
with a strong and distinctive factual core. 
This was achieved by shifting funding away 
from entertainment, reducing the volume 
of lifestyle programmes and increasing 
the amount of arts and current affairs in 
peak time. 

The repositioning was achieved but at 
some cost in terms of audience numbers, 
exacerbated by increasing competition for 
viewers from the growing number of digital 
channels. Audience reach has continued to 
fall, although the rate of decline has slowed 
and this may be a sign that audiences are 
stabilising, although there are problems 
reaching younger and ethnic minority 
audiences. In 2005/2006, average weekly 
15-minute reach to viewers aged 4+ in 
all homes was 59.1% or 33 million people 
(61.4%/34 million in 2004/2005)2. However, 
these figures are averages. Reach is higher in 
analogue-only homes, but very significantly 
lower in satellite homes.This suggests that 
BBC Two faces further threats to its 
audience position as the UK moves towards 
analogue switch-off. 

In last year’s Annual Report we noted that 
the new channel controller was reviewing 


The Catherine Tate Show 

Investing in distinctive comedy: Catherine Tate’s 
sketch show, which had its second season in 2005 – 
part of the BBC’s response to audience pressure to 
develop fresh UK comic talent 

the implementation of the strategy with a 
view to broadening its appeal.The results 
were presented to us in July 2005. 

The key challenge identified was connecting 
with digital audiences and anticipating the 
expansion of on-demand technologies. 
While audience appreciation was high, and 
there had been innovation in music, arts 
and religion as well as growth in current 
affairs at 9pm, the amount of original 
drama and comedy had declined.To 
counter this, further investment was 
planned in these two genres, alongside 
further innovation in factual programmes. 
At the same time, trials began to explore 
the potential benefits of on-demand by 
making programmes available on 
broadband via the redesigned website.This 
should increase reach as audiences will be 
able to watch outside the scheduled slot. 
We endorsed these proposals for the 
further evolution of the channel and will 
continue to monitor progress. 

In the year under review, BBC Two carried 
a broad range of outstanding output.This 
included Elusive Peace: Israel and the Arabs, 
a three-part series exploring the last eight 
years of the Middle East peace process 
through interviews with key protagonists. 
Coast, the result of a collaborative 
partnership across the BBC, was an 
ambitious series exploring the maritime 
history and geography of the UK coastline. 
Strong comedy included Extras, Ricky 
Gervais’ latest excursion into the comedy 
of self-delusion, and Catherine Tate 
consolidated her reputation with a new 
series of The Catherine Tate Show which 
pushed more of her catch-phrases into 
general usage.William Golding’s epic trilogy 
of novels To the Ends of the Earth was 
adapted into a memorable classic drama. 
Martin Scorsese’s illuminating documentary 
on Bob Dylan, Arena: No Direction Home, 
created enormous interest. Holocaust – 

6 

million


average audience to the final episode of 
The Apprentice (BBC Two, February–May 
2006) 

A Music Memorial Film from Auschwitz was 
a moving tribute to the Jewish musicians 
who died in the death camps.The Winter 
Olympics were the highlight of sport on 
the channel during the year. 

Springwatch, presented by Bill Oddie, drew 
large audiences with its fresh approach 
to natural history for family audiences. 
It successfully encouraged viewers to 
contribute their own observations of 
nature through its national survey of 
springtime phenomena. 

The Monastery drew large and appreciative 
audiences as it followed five laymen 
spending 40 days and nights in a Benedictine 
monastery trying to discover if the monastic 
disciplines had something to offer them. 
This was a surprising, thoughtful and tactful 
use of reality television techniques to 
explore serious spiritual themes. Top Gear, 
a longstanding cornerstone of the schedule, 
brought wit, verve and imaginative 
production styles to its coverage of 
cars and everything to do with them. 
The Apprentice and Dragon’s Den returned 
for successful second series, inventively 
opening up the world of business and 
entrepreneurship to new audiences. The 
Apprentice has been one of the successes 
of the broadband trial on bbc.co.uk/bbctwo, 
where entire programmes have been made 
available for downloading – initial public 
demand has indicated the potential appeal 
of non linear programming. 

2The population aged 4+ rose by 400,000 between 
2004/2005 and 2005/2006 

BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 27 

Governors’ review 
of services – Television 


Remit 
BBC Three is dedicated to innovative 
British content and talent aimed primarily 
at younger audiences.The channel is 
committed to a mixed schedule of news, 
current affairs, music, arts, factual 
knowledge-building content and coverage 
of international issues, as well as to high-
quality, distinctive new drama, comedy 
and entertainment. 

Audiences to BBC Three are continuing 
to grow. In 2005/2006, average weekly 
15-minute reach to viewers aged 4+ in 
multichannel homes was 16.1% or 6.8 million 
people (14.8%/5.6 million in 2004/2005)3. 

At its launch in 2003, BBC Three was given 
an extremely demanding remit – the 
conditions for approval laid upon it by the 
Secretary of State were much more detailed 
than for the other BBC digital television 
channels. In general terms it has done 
well and has maintained its commitment 
to UK-produced content and its remit for 
innovation and risk-taking. However, it was 
clear that some parts of the schedule were 
not delivering value for money, in particular 
the 7 O’Clock News. As we noted in last 
year’s Annual Report, we asked management 
to consider the future role of news on 
BBC Three and their conclusions were 
presented to us in June 2005. 

The main recommendation was to drop 
the 7pm news and close its website. 
Although admirably innovative, the bulletin 
had not succeeded in generating a 
substantial audience nor had its associated 
interactive news services.This has not been 
the case with the channel’s other hourly 


Funland 

Commissioning innovative drama: Ian Pulestone-
Davies and Frances Barber in the dark comic 
thriller Funland – part of BBC Three’s commitment 
to bring its audiences distinctive new drama 

news offering, 60 Seconds, which has proved 
a successful format for delivering news to 
the younger adult audiences targeted by 
the channel. Experiments with changing 
the transmission time of the longer bulletin 
and altering its format and presentation 
were not successful in significantly increasing 
its impact. 

A second recommendation from 
management was to alter the channel’s 
remit.The original wording committed 
the channel to a number of specific factual 
sub-genres including education, science, 
religion and ethics, and business. In practice, 
the channel management discovered that 
this large number of narrow commitments 
was a hindrance rather than a help in 
delivering high-quality factual content to 
its audiences. Some of BBC Three’s most 
successful factual output did not fit easily 
into the specified sub-genres. For example, 
it was unclear whether Little Angels 
(on parenting skills) or Body Hits (on health 
issues) should be classified as education 
or science. In management’s view, it would 
be more productive to consolidate its 
commitments into a single ‘knowledgebuilding’ category and to increase its hours 
commitments in this area. 

We endorsed both recommendations. 
With the agreement of the Secretary 
of State the wording of the remit was 
changed (the new wording is at the head 
of this review). 

The channel’s commitment to factual 
knowledge-building output has produced 
some notable successes in the year under 
review on the general theme of self-
improvement.They include Honey We’re 
Killing the Kids (on parents’ role in their 
children’s unhealthy eating habits, with a 
linked exhibition at the Science Museum); 
Spendaholics (on personal debt); and 
Dog Borstal (on training pets). 

Naked City 
Reporting cutting-edge art: 1,700 volunteers 
assembled naked on the Quayside at Gateshead to 
be photographed by the US artist Spencer Tunick – 
a collaboration between BBC Three and the Baltic 
Centre for Contemporary Art 
BBC Three has continued to perform 
strongly with home-grown comedy. Two 
Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, 
Tittybangbang, Man Stroke Woman, Ideal and 
a further series of the channel’s established 
hit Little Britain are good examples of the 
channel’s vigour in tackling this difficult and 
risky genre. Strong drama included the dark 
comedy Funland. 

The Flashmob – the Opera format was 
successfully repeated, this time in Sheffield 
with a version of the Faust story 
performed in front of the shoppers in the 
Meadowhall shopping centre. Naked City,a 
collaboration with the Baltic Centre for 
Contemporary Art on Tyneside,recorded 
the artist Spencer Tunick’s project to 
assemble 1,700 naked volunteers on the 
Quayside and photograph them. 

BBC Three has done innovative work to 
extend its output beyond broadcast, for 
example by premiering the new series of 
its comedy The Mighty Boosh on broadband 
via bbc.co.uk. 

The channel’s overall success is to be 
applauded. However, there are areas for 
concern.The channel has a specific remit 
to appeal to younger audiences but the 
average age of its audience is towards 
the older end of the target age-range. 
Management are looking to refocus on 
younger audiences, and a re-emphasis 
on risk-taking, distinctive and high 
quality origination may hold the key 
here.The channel cannot afford any 
long-term decline in audience perceptions 
of its originality. 

3The number of individuals in multichannel homes 

grew by 5 million to 42.5 million between 

2004/2005 and 2005/2006 

28 BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 

The Jitterbug Years 
Tracing history through music: BBC Four used 
contemporary hits and archive footage to bring 
alive the story of post-war Britain – part of the 
channel’s Lost Decade season examining British 
culture from 1945–1955 
Remit 
BBC Four aims to serve audiences in 
search of even greater depth and range 
in their viewing.With an ambition to 
be British television’s most intellectually 
and culturally enriching channel, BBC Four 
sets out to balance a distinctive 
mix of documentary, performance, 
music, film and topical features to 
offer a satisfying alternative to more 
mainstream programming. 

Audiences to BBC Four continue to rise. 
In 2005/2006, average weekly 15-minute 
reach to viewers aged 4+ in multichannel 
homes was 6.1% or 2.6 million people 
(4.8%/1.8 million in 2004/2005)4. 

BBC Four has continued steadily to build 
its reputation for unashamedly literate, 
intelligent and challenging output. BBC 
audience research suggests that BBC Four 
viewers rate the channel ahead of all its 
UK competitors, terrestrial as well as digital, 
for the high quality of its programmes. 

The channel has made an impact by 
developing one-off dramas on 
contemporary themes and personalities. 
Fantabulosa was a memorably bleak 
portrait of the comedian Kenneth 
Williams based on his diaries, and 
The Chatterly Affair an engagingly oblique 
dramatisation of the 1963 trial for 
obscenity of D H Lawrence’s novel. 
The Quatermass Experiment was the 
first live drama on BBC television for 
many years. A View from a Hill brought 
a satisfying chill to Christmas with a 
fine adaptation of M R James’ classic 
ghost story. 

Fantabulosa 
Drama to make you think: Michael Sheen 
as Kenneth Williams in Fantabulosa, 
a compelling portrait revealing the brilliant 
comedian’s darker side 
Documentaries are a particularly strong 
feature of the channel.The Storyville strand 
(shared with BBC Two) has drawn justified 
praise for its eclectic commissioning. 
Outside the Storyville strand, memorable 
documentary has included Monsoon 
Railway, an evocative portrait of the 
Assam and Bengal railway and some 
of the lives it touches. 

BBC Four is the home of international film 
on the BBC.The channel showed all three 
parts of Heimat (Edgar Reitz’s monumental 
chronicle of modern German history) and 
has continued its commitment to the World 
Cinema Awards.This sits alongside support 
of the Grierson Awards for documentary 
and the Samuel Johnson Award for nonfiction as part of the channel’s wider 
engagement with these genres. 

Innovative comedy is one of the ways the 
channel seeks to broaden its appeal while 
staying true to its remit, and the second 
series of the sharp political satire The Thick 
of It demonstrated what can be achieved 
here.The channel also seeks to increase 
its impact with seasons of linked output. 
The Lost Decade was an eye-opening 
series of documentaries examining different 
aspects of life in Britain between 1945 and 
1955; the subjects covered included sex, 
censorship, food, politics, sport, leisure 
and culture.The Bob Dylan season built 
imaginatively on the momentum created 
by the Scorsese documentary on BBC Two 
with a collection of new and archive films. 
Folk Britannia celebrated the traditional 
music of the UK through a linked series of 
documentaries, archive programming and 
live performances. 

4The number of individuals in multichannel homes 

grew by 5 million to 42.5 million between 

2004/2005 and 2005/2006 

127 

hours 

of new educational programming broadcast 
on BBC Three in 2005/2006 

BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006 29 

Governors’ review 
of services –Television 


Remit 
The CBBC Channel aims to offer a 
distinctive mixed schedule for children 
from 6 to 12 years old, encouraging 
them to find out more about existing 
interests or inspiring them to develop 
new ones, and helping them to 
understand and embrace the world 
around them.The channel puts an 
emphasis on encouraging participation. 

Audiences to The CBBC Channel have 
continued to rise. In 2005/2006, average 
weekly 15-minute reach to viewers aged 
4+ in multichannel homes was 6.0% or 

2.6 million people (5.6%/2.1 million in 
2004/2005)5. 
The distinctiveness of the channel remains 
its high quality, its range (including news, 
education and drama), its low level of 
repeats, its freedom from adverts and its 
high proportion of quality UK-originated 
material throughout the day. During the 
year more quality content, particularly 
drama, received its premiere on The CBBC 
Channel – and CBeebies – rather than 
BBC One or Two. 

The channel’s presentation style is lively 
and energetic and it works hard to stay in 
tune with its demanding audiences. In last 
year’s report we noted the reservations 
raised by Professor Patrick Barwise in his 
independent review of the channel 
commissioned by the Department for 
Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) about 
the tone of voice of The CBBC Channel, 
and we asked management to respond 


Jonny’s Hotshots 

Encouraging sports participation: England 
international Jonny Wilkinson shares the secrets 
of rugby with CBBC viewers 

formally to us.Their report was presented 
to us in July 2005. 

Management identified some specific 
problems with inexperienced presenters 
(although making the point that the 
channel is required to develop new on-air 
talent) and accepted that occasionally 
boundaries of taste had been crossed in 
the Saturday morning show Dick and Dom 
in da Bungalow. However, they assured 
us that proper controls were in place, 
including induction training, editorial 
guidelines and programme review forums. 
We endorsed their approach to tone and 
presentation style and supported the 
overall performance of the channel, which 
has been a very successful addition to the 
BBC portfolio and prompts very positive 
feedback from parents. 

The CBBC Channel’s philosophy is 
“learning through fun”. An element 
of learning and life skills development 
pervades a large part of its output 
including drama and factual. Blue Peter, 
Newsround and Short Change demonstrate 
that there is a serious thread to the 
channel. Short Change deals with consumer 
issues and equips children to make 
informed choices. Newsround now has an 
investigative strand, examining problems 
such as underage drinking in the UK. 
The Newsround Press Pack website was 
launched, enabling children to learn the 
basics of journalism and see their work 
published, and the site has proved 
extremely popular.The channel also 
launched Sportsround, a weekly sports show 
that encourages children to take part 
in sport. In Jonny’s Hotshots, the England 
international Jonny Wilkinson gave rugby 
masterclasses to a group of children. 
The schedule also includes Class TV,a 
four-hour block of schools programmes 
transmitted every weekday during term 
time.These programmes are designed 

56% 

of children in Great Britain aged 7–15 
accessed bbc.co.uk/CBBC in December 2005 

primarily for use in the classroom and are 
focused on the school curriculum. 

The launch of new digital channels aimed 
at sections of CBBC’s heartland audience 
means that the channel may have to work 
hard to maintain its reach in the coming 
period. However, on the evidence of the last 
year it is well placed to meet the challenge, 
and management have embarked on a 
programme of refreshing the channel, 
including ending some long-running and 
successful titles. 

5The number of individuals in multichannel homes 

grew by 5 million to 42.5 million between 

2004/2005 and 2005/2006 

30 BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006BBCAnnual Report and Accounts 2005/2006

Charlie and Lola 

Learning about life: Lauren Child’s award-winning 
children’s books about family relationships, brought 
to CBeebies in a new UK animation 


Remit 
CBeebies aims to offer a mix of new 
and landmark, high-quality, UK-produced 
programmes to educate and entertain 
the BBC’s youngest audience.The service 
provides a range of programming designed 
to encourage learning through play for 
children aged five and under, in a 
consistently safe environment. 

Reach to CBeebies fell slightly during the 
year, although because the number of 
homes where the channel can be received 
is rising, the number of people watching 
the channel rose6. In 2005/2006, average 
weekly 15-minute reach to viewers aged 
4+ in multichannel homes was 8.8% or 

3.7 million people (9.0%/3.4 million people 
in 2004/2005). As many viewers are aged 
under four these figures underestimate the 
true size of the audience. 
The channel’s philosophy is “learning 
through play” and almost all the 
programming is linked to the Government’s 
Foundation Stage Curriculum. New 
programming this year included Lazytown, 
encouraging health and fitness, and Charlie 
and Lola, a new UK animation looking at 
family relationships through children’s eyes 

– a production of great charm and 
freshness. Muffin the Mule was revived, 
giving its viewers insight into the value of 
friends and teamwork. Strong returning 
series included Boogie Beebies (dance and 
sing-along); The Roly Mo Show (drama and 
storytelling); and Tweenies (community 
and social skills). 
CBeebies’ interactive service is the second 
most-used BBC interactive service after 

Weekly reach of BBC Television services 2005/2006 (% individuals) 

2006 2005 
2005/ 2004/ 
85.3 86.6 
BBC Two 
BBC One 
BBC Television 
59.1 61.4 
79.7 81.9 
BBC Three 11.8 9.4 
BBC Four 4.5 3.0 
The CBBC Channel 4.2 3.5 
CBeebies 6.4 5.8 
BBC News 24 
BBC Parliament 
5.4 4.2 
0.2 0.2 

Source: BARB,TNS/Infosys, age 4+ in All Homes, average 15-minute weekly reach 2005/2006 

News and the channel continues to find 
innovative ways to exploit the educational 
possibilities of online.The Something Special 
website and associated programmes are 
designed to help children with learning 
difficulties.The language used in the 
programmes is supported by Makaton signs 
and symbols, designed to be understood 
by children in the early stages of language 
development and recognised as an effective 
way of building the communication skills of 
people with learning difficulties. 

CBeebies’ success is recognised by parents 
who consistently rate it as the best channel 
for children. However, although it remains 
the market leader among all children’s 
channels, the fall in reach during the year 
under review is a clear sign that it is 
starting to face problems in an increasingly 
competitive digital world. Some of its 
programme titles have reached the end 
of their creative life and there is a pressing 
need to refresh the portfolio. Management 
have made clear their awareness of the 
issue in their Statements of Programme 
Policy and we note their commitment 
to provide more content for the older 
age range among CBeebies’ viewers. 

6The number of individuals in multichannel homes 

grew by 5 million to 42.5 million between 

2004/2005 and 2005/2006 

BBC Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006BBC31Annual Report and Accounts 2005/2006